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WWF at The Boston Garden
February 7, 1987

by Scrooge McSuck

Taped from the Boston Garden, we're on the Road to WrestleMania III. We're going to go through this one a bit like how we handled a recent card from Madison Square Garden. Peacock has a partial broadcast of this show available, including the Main Event, and all the matches featured underneath were used to fill time on Prime Time Wrestling, so we're going to piece together the complete show the best we can, using TheHistoryofWWE.com as our guide for the match order.

Gorilla Monsoon and Ken Resnick (STILL THERE?!) are sitting ringside to call the action, unless otherwise noted. The WWF ran the Los Angeles Sports Arena the same night, with Hulk Hogan going over Kamala in a No DQ Match in the Main Event. Other matches included Roddy Piper and Adrian Adonis going to a Double DQ, Harley Race pinning The Junkyard Dog, the Can-Am Connection defeating Sheik and Volkoff, and Demolition defeating Rotundo and Spivey (along with some prelim geek matches). It looks like a tour of Australia was scheduled around this time, but was canceled. I'm assuming Paul Roma would have worked those cards.

Tama vs. Frenchy Martin:

Quite the opener! Slick is in the ring to announce that Martin is filling in for his man, "The Natural" Butch Reed. Martin's powder blue boots combined with black tights and red trim is certainly a look. Lockup to the corner and Tama gives a clean break. Tama wins the fight over a top wrist-lock and transitions to the arm bar. They trade blows, with Martin backing up, begging for mercy. Martin goes for the leg, but Tama continues to outwork him. Martin tries ramming Tama's head into the buckle and you know where it goes from there. Tama no-sells and does a funky dance. Slick with a distraction, allowing Martin to attack from behind. Martin slows the match down with a nerve hold. Tama with an escape, but Martin cuts him off with a clothesline. Tama with another escape, and another cut-off sends him out of the ring. Back inside, Tama blocks a suplex and takes Martin over with one of his own. Tama with an atomic drop, but he misses a big boy elbow drop. Martin rakes the eyes across the top rope, and we're damn close to getting a prelim heel BINGO over here. Just need him to grab a hold and use the ropes for leverage. Tama with the comeback, hitting Martin with a headbutt and diving clothesline for a two-count. He gets a little too excited running the ropes and Martin dumps him over the top rope. Tama crawls under the ring and pops out on the other side, surprising Martin with a flying body press for the three-count at 12:30. Tama did some fun looking stuff, but Martin was just in cruise-control prelim heel mode. Nothing technically wrong, but it doesn't lead to an entertaining match. *½

Koko B. Ware vs. The Red Demon:

Unless someone rented the gimmick for the night, the Red Demon is Mr. Jose Luis Rivera. Lockup to the corner, Koko ducks a right hand and takes the Demon over with a pair of arm drags. Koko goes for the mask, but the Demon powders. At least the Red Demon is wearing mostly red gear, but the weird leopard print mask feels like it clashes. Demon digs into the tights, and at least he's doing some different prelim heel schtick compared to Martin in the previous match. Whip to the ropes, Koko ducks an elbow but meets the ropes going for a body press. Demon celebrates and drops a terrible looking elbow drop. Demon chokes with the wrist tape and mocks Koko's arm flapping gimmick. Demon with a suplex for two. He plants Koko with a slam but is nailed coming off the top rope. Demon loads up the mask and connects with a headbutt. The crowd DOES NOT CARE. He plays to the crowd, allowing Koko to recover. Demon cuts him off and misses a flying nothing. Koko sends him into the corner with a dropkick. Whip to the ropes and Koko with a powerslam for two. Koko with a snap suplex and fist drop. He fakes the Demon out by teasing a body press and finishes with the missile dropkick at 9:54. Rivera's as the Demon works like a comedy heel you would see on an 80's sitcom. *

Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules (w/ Bobby Heenan):

We're going to see A LOT of Billy Jack and Hercules throughout 1987. With Hogan and Orndorff pretty much done on the house show loop, that frees up Heenan to appear at more shows without being attached to that program. Before the match begins, Heenan says he has a WONDERFUL surprise and brings out Paul Orndorff. I guess we need to remind people he still exists. Hercules tries a sneak attack, but Haynes sees it coming and sends Hercules out of the ring. Heenan sits in on commentary to go over the bombshell news of being with Andre the Giant. Back in the ring, they trade blows, with Billy Jack getting the better of the deal. Whip to the ropes and Haynes with a clothesline. Whip to the corner and Hercules pops out with a clothesline of his own. Hercules punishes the back, sending Haynes from corner to corner. Heenan jumps in on commentary again with Monsoon wanting to know Andre's motivation. Hercules with a short-arm clothesline and a lazy cover for a two-count. Haynes escapes a bearhug, but Hercules regains control and connects with a delayed vertical suplex for two. Crisscross and we get a clothesline double-down. Haynes avoids several elbow drop attempts and finally mounts some offense. We get our second slug-fest, again going in Haynes' favor. Whip and Haynes with a three-piece combo and gorilla press slam. Heenan hops on the apron to draw Haynes' attention. The Brain gets decked, now taking the referee's attention from the match. Billy Jack slaps on a Full Nelson, but Mr. Wonderful returns, hitting Haynes from the top rope, and Hercules steals the victory at 10:19. Nothing wrong with it, but felt like a paint-by-numbers match as we spent a lot of time pushing the Andre/Heenan relationship on commentary and barely paying attention to the match itself. **

Haku vs. Terry Gibbs:

What can I say about this one? It's the other half of the Islanders and someone who is so vanilla, I can't even come up with a decent insult. The bell rings and Gibbs immediately hides in the ropes. Lockup, Gibbs grabs a side headlock and comes off the ropes with a shoulder block. Haku responds with a hip toss, slam and leg drop for two. Gibbs with some strikes in the corner that have little effect. Whip across the ring and Haku regains control with a side headlock. Whip and Haku with a body press for two. Gibbs goes to the eyes and now it's Haku no-selling the turnbuckle shots. An inverted atomic drop seems to have a more lasting effect. Mild "Boring" chants as Ken Resnick repeats himself for like the 4th time about promoters putting the card together for WrestleMania III, suggesting there will be 15-20 matches. PLEASE GOD, NO. Haku sends Gibbs to the corner and lays him out with a clothesline, then finishes with a flying headbutt at 4:31. Just a short prelim match, nothing to get excited about, nothing too awful. *

Non-Title Match: The Hart Foundation vs. The Rougeau Brothers:

The Hart Foundation are doing the classic gimmick where, despite winning the Tag Team Championship, the match was originally signed as a Non-Title encounter, and there will be no changes to that arrangement. Jim Neidhart snatches the microphone to make the announcement just in case the crowd wasn't paying attention. Raymond and Bret start. Lockup to the ropes and Raymond gives a clean break. Bret repeatedly complains about a hair-pull. They trade wrist-locks and Raymond bounces off the ropes with a cross body-press for a two-count. Blind tag to Jacques, who surprises Bret with a dropkick, followed by a splash for another two-count. Neidhart tags in and takes down the straps to show alpha dominance. In the battle of strength, Neidhart wins that one with ease. Whip is reversed and Jacques takes the Anvil over with a sloppy powerslam. Whip and the Rougeaus with a double blow to the midsection. Bret pops in for a distraction, allowing Neidhart to club Raymond and drop him across the top rope. Raymond gets choked out while the referee tries to keep Jacques in his corner. Whip and Bret drives a knee into the back. Bret with an inverted atomic drop for a two-count. He plants Raymond with a slam and brings Anvil in with a slingshot splash. Raymond reverses a whip, sending Bret crashing chest-first into the turnbuckle. We get a series of counters until Bret is sent out of the ring with a dropkick. Jacques with the hot tag. Dropkicks for everyone and a DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER. Jacques slaps on a sleeper but Neidhart saves. Heck breaks loose with all four men in the ring. Bret and Neidhart are whipped into each other. Jacques plants Bret with a slam and the Tower of Quebec finishes for the clean victory at 11:39! The match started with some low-effort, but picked up and finished on a high note. **½

King Kong Bundy vs. "The Duke of Dorchester" Pete Doherty:

Yeah, this is a thing, no doubt because at the January 3rd card at the Boston Garden, Doherty could be blamed for Bundy's elimination in the Bunkhouse Battle Royal. I don't care if Doherty is from Massachusetts, this is still heel vs heel in my book. Doherty immediately rushes Bundy and gets clubbed. Whip and Bundy lays him out with a clothesline. Doherty ducks under a second clothesline, but has little effect with his strikes. Bundy with a snap mare and knee across the face. He plants the Duke with a slam and comes off the ropes, missing a splash. Doherty repeatedly rakes the eyes and unloads with mounted blows in the corner. Bundy shoves him down and drops an elbow, then pulls Doherty up at two. Another elbow drop, and another pin attempt willingly given up. Doherty avoids the Avalanche, grabs a chair from ringside, and smacks Bundy with it for the Disqualification at 3:02. Bundy barely sells the blow and knocks Doherty out of the ring. HAHA, Bundy only beats the local jobber by DISQUALIFICATION. This was surprisingly fun for what it was. *½

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat vs. Sika:

The WWE Network version edits out Steamboat's entrance for obvious reasons. Sika got a decent push when he returned, but feels like it already stalled out. Sika gets the jump on Steamboat as he enters the ring and knocks him to the arena floor. Steamboat fights his way back in with a series of chops, but Sika goes to the eyes and dumps him again. Back inside, Sika sends Steamboat to the ropes and connects with a big chop across the chest. Steamboat fights back as Ken Resnick congratulates Larry Bird for winning the 3 Point Shooting Contest. Sika goes to the throat and grabs a BLATANT choke hold. Steamboat's selling is borderline comical with how much he's trying to emote that he's getting hit where he was recently injured. Steamboat with an uppercut chop to the throat. Sika misses a charge to the corner and Steamboat rolls him up for the three count at 4:05. Post-match, Sika is a sore loser and throws Steamboat out of the ring. This felt like a match you would see in Superstars or Challenge. *

Special Delivery Jones vs. Dino Bravo (w/ Johnny Valiant):

I picked the wrong weekend to stop drinking. Dino still has the dark hair and still just hangs around as a lackey for the Dream Team. He has a problem with the Rougeau Brothers, because they are boy scouts or something and he needs people to help his smuggling operation. Valiant taunts Jones and takes a few shots from him for the benefit of Bravo to get a jump start. Bravo with an atomic drop for barely a one-count. Jones takes over with a hip toss and slam, sending Bravo to the floor for a powder. Valiant sits in on commentary, making me want to hit the mute button. Back inside, Jones works the arm. If either man breaks a sweat from this match, it's because of the venue and not because of the level of effort. Bravo counters a monkey-flip with an inverted atomic drop and dumps Jones to the floor. Valiant gets a shot in but nobody cares. Bravo brings Jones in from the apron with a suplex, followed by a gut-wrench slam for two. Bravo with the world's crappiest Boston Crab. Jones with a pathetic comeback that the crowd is completely dead for. Bravo finally puts this turkey to bed with the side slam at 7:32. This stunk. ZERO STARS

WWF Intercontinental Championship; Lumberjack Match: "Macho Man" Randy Savage (c) (w/ Elizabeth) vs. Bruno Sammartino:

Main Event and final match of the evening. Savage and Sammartino met the last time the WWF came to Boston, with Savage sneaking out a cheap count-out victory. The Lumberjacks are the usual collection of guys who worked underneath, including Savage's rival and WrestleMania III challenger. Savage uses Elizabeth as a shield and whacks Bruno with an axe-handle before the bell rings. Savage goes to the top and is nailed on the way down. Bruno lays in with strikes, knocking Savage out of the ring. He tries to run, but Haku sends him back to the ring, where Sammartino continues to bring the pain. Savage keeps running and the Lumberjacks keep sending him to the Lion. Savage digs into the trunks for the Memphis special. Sammartino gets sent to the floor, where Bundy gets a free shot before sending him back in. Savage with a flying axe-handle for a two-count. They smack heads and Sammartino falls out of the ring. He gives a receipt to Bundy and takes a shot at Frenchy Martin for the fun of it. Savage gets sent from corner to corner, then dumped out in front of Steamboat, where the Dragon takes liberties of his role. Bruno with the bearhug, but Bundy breaks it up for the ultra-cheap Disqualification at 4:16. Post-match, heck breaks loose with Sammartino and Steamboat clearing the ring of Bundy and Savage before it turns into a Lumberjack Battle Royal. Short and to the point. Hard to put it over as anything more special than that. **

Final Thoughts: Pretty much a day at the office level of effort across the board. A lot of short matches, only a couple of stinkers, and none that are outstanding, but some that offer some kind of entertainment value. You've got one of Bruno's last big matches, a mediocre Hart Foundation match is still a positive experience, and hey, some people out there might like the circus that was Bundy vs Doherty. The biggest detractor is the poor commentary, with Ken Resnick having zero chemistry with Gorilla, and repeating the same talking points every match.

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